Israel's Likud to vote on merger with Lieberman

The union proposed by Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to win approval, though some moderates in Likud are opposed to it.

A poll released ahead of the vote on Monday evening shows a merged Likud-Israel Beiteinu party could be far ahead of rivals in Jan. 22 elections.

The TNS/Teleseker poll of 500 people, conducted for the Maariv newspaper and published on Monday, gave the merged party 43 of parliament's 120 seats. Ultra-Orthodox parties that traditionally align with Likud would win 24, potentially handing Netanyahu a comfortable hard-line majority of 67 seats.